What the HELL was THAT? 😅 (Akhnaten - English National Opera Review ~ish)

[@searchingformyshadow]

This is a great video, and I think your reaction to Akhnaten is very reasonable. I saw it performed yesterday afternoon and absolutely loved it, so maybe you will find my interpretation helpful to better appreciate it. For context, I am also a younger person (I am a 21-year-old student who got a heavily discounted ticket) and I am similarly inexperienced with opera (Akhnaten was my second, my first was ENO's production of The Rhinegold earlier this year). I think some prior knowledge about the historical Akhnaten was useful to me. The key point that I think the audience is expected to already know is that Akhnaten was a radical religious reformer: He dispensed with the worship of the traditional Egyptian pantheon and replaced it with the worship of a single god, Aten, the personification of the sun. Naturally, this was incredibly unpopular among the Egyptian people, and these reforms were reversed almost immediately after Akhnaten’s death. The way I interpret it, a lot of what we see onstage is symbolic of the sun. I think the juggling represents the passage of the sun through the sky. The balls fly in a circular motion, beginning in one hand and ending in the other, like how the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. When Akhnaten encounters the giant ball, I think it represents his religious epiphany. The giant ball changes from a bright white/yellow to an orange/red, which I take to represent the sun setting. Meanwhile, Akhnaten ascends the staircase, so as the sun is getting lower, he is moving himself higher. He is trying to touch the sun. I think this is meant to display his single minded devotion to his new religious purpose, but also his mania and the futility of his mission, since no one can ever really touch the sun. This is the scene in which the jugglers toss the larger beach balls up and down. I think this is meant to draw attention away from the act of juggling and more toward the ball itself, which is the sun rising and setting. The opera’s beginning and ending with the parallel funerals and coronations are, I think, also symbolic of the cyclical path of the sun. I think the beginning of the opera was not Akhnaten’s funeral, but the funeral of his father (who a Google search revealed to be Amenhotep III). What we see next is his coronation, which I think you are correct to point out is full of birth imagery. At the end, we see Akhnaten’s funeral and the coronation of his son, Tutankhamun. So we see the sun set, personified by Amenhotep; we then see it rise, pass through the sky, and set again, personified by Akhnaten; and we then see it rise once again, personified by Tutankhamun. I think the slow choreography and frequent stillness was meant to evoke the stone carvings on which the history of Akhnaten is recorded. I think this ties into the scene at the end where we see the narrator as a tour guide talking about how Akhnaten’s city is now completely in ruins, and illustrates the themes of temporality and futility. Akhnaten was a person of deep conviction and immense power, but in the end, everything that he tried to create was undone and destroyed. Now all that is left of him are some unmoving stone carvings that tell a story. I think the choreography also complements Glass’s style of repetitive phrases that slowly change. Just like the music, the actors maintain the same position but slowly move into a new one. I’m sorry if that was all a bit rambling. This is what was going on in my head while I was watching the performance and during the tube ride home, but I’m sure an opera critic could give a much deeper and more cogent analysis. I hope this is useful to you.

[@milo-theatre]

this is one of the best comments I've ever received on KZbin - thank you so much for writing it. I feel my appreciation of the opera is heightened just by reading this alone, and it's given me so much food for thought that I will continue to chew on for a very long time. Very grateful you took the time to write all this out. Thanks again!!! 🙏🙏🙏

[@searchingformyshadow]

@@milo-theatre I'm very glad you found it worthwhile!

[@karlmortoniv2951]

Interesting. Did you guys get some kind of titles heralding the different sections and what they were meant to represent? In the cinema this afternoon the Metropolitan Opera gave chapter headings before each section (I assume seeing it live we would have had the titles projected where the supertitles went? Not sure.) which helped orient the audience somewhat, but if you went in without at least checking out a Wikipedia entry the names would have meant little. I'm asking because the first production I saw years and years ago had no titles at all so it became this trippy, psychedelic, gorgeous ballet. My friend who took me ingested a controlled substance or two at dinner before the show so he experienced the evening on a completely different level than I did. Did you guys get another wrinkle on the end, where after Akhnaten's embalming he gets "resurrected" and put on display in a museum? The speaker who portrayed Amenhotep and spoke the English words throughout did a quick costume change and became a modern day lecturer speaking about the site of Akhnaten's ruined holy city to a bored audience who rather desultorily tosses a few balls around as an echo of the similarly staged funeral scene earlier. Then Akhnaten and Nefertiti and Tye are heard once more for the epilogue. Did something change between the production I saw and the one you saw? I'm not sure how set in stone these productions are - the music is pretty much set, as I understand it, but the dramatics can change quite a bit, right?

[@searchingformyshadow]

@@karlmortoniv2951 I also saw the Met version at the cinema yesterday. If memory serves, the production itself was essentially the same as the ENO's, except with a mostly different cast. So we also saw things like the museum sequence, the narrator's costume change, and the epilogue. We did not have the subtitles or headings when we saw it live, though; the ENO didn't project anything like that for this particular opera. I imagine that information like the scene headings would have been available in the programme, but these cost extra and I opted not to buy one (which may have been a mistake). When I saw the opera live, I didn't understand what specifically was being depicted, I had no idea that the narrator was supposed to be Akhnaten's father, and I didn't even realize that the Hymn in Act 2 was sung in English.

[@karlmortoniv2951]

@@searchingformyshadow They charge for programs there? Fuck that. Out here they’re 70% advertising so it pays for itself. I guess the chapter headings could be provided in the program but I can’t read in the dark. I liked it this way. Gave me a thumbnail sketch of where we were going so I didn’t have to spend that much time working it out and could just be with the music and visuals. Apparently the hymn is sung in whatever language is native to where the production is. The first production was in Germany, for example. I rather like that, but I wonder who is in charge of cranking out the versions? Glass’ office? Or is it left up to the individual productions to deal with it in a way that makes sense?

[@mezzosuzie]

Hello! I just ran across this today and I would love to help explain some of this! I have been in this production twice at the Met in NYC (I sang a daughter and we are also the ones embalming and dressing the bodies at the beginning and end) and studied Glass's early operas for my DMA research, so hopefully I can answer some of your questions. Please know I am trying to be helpful and am NOT offended by what you have said. Tone gets lost so often online... So, this is either a perfect or a terrible first opera depending on who you are and how much you know about what you are seeing. When I was in it I had a lot of random family and friends who wanted to see it either in person or in the movie theater broadcast and I made sure to prep everyone. You said that you hadn't done much research going in and that is, especially for this show, where you went wrong. In general, I find that opera is like an art museum. I appreciate a lot more about what I am looking at if I have read up on it a bit first. Most opera companies offer free chats before the show and that can be a great resource. It is important to know that Glass's first three operas are non-narrative sketches about an individual. So, there was no "story" to the opera. I felt like you were looking for a storyline and that would have been an incredibly frustrating endeavor. Also, at this time Glass was still more or less in a very heavy minimalist style, which means that the perception of time is completely distorted. This leaves the director with some serious challenges. Generally, most successful stagings involve movement that is either very fast or very slow. These shows don't really work with "normal" acting. The actors and singers were indeed playing with time in their movements. The show was meant to be meditative and the viewer was supposed to derive their own meaning and conclusion from what they saw, so again, if you were hoping that the direction was going to tell you something, it wasn't. You were supposed to discover and have a meditative experience. I basically told people to forget that they were going to an opera and instead to expect Egyptian Cirque du Soleil and most of my friends were satisfied with their experience. The jugglers were led by Sean Gandini, who is brilliant. He incorporated juggling patterns that mimicked the cross rhythms in the music and also drew imagery from hieroglyphs, including the earliest depiction of juggling. The people on the center tier that you mentioned were the chorus, which is why their juggling was likely not as adept as the others. The ball drop at the end was just that Akhnaten was dead. It was that on the nose and you didn't miss anything. The balls rolling across the stage were the sands of time erasing his reign. The funeral at the beginning was his father and the body being embalmed was also his father's. At the end we were not embalming Akhnaten, but rather turning him into a museum piece, because that is what is left of him now. Akhnaten was controversial because he did away with all the Egyptian gods and unified them under Aten, the "disc of the sun," which is why he was walking up the stairs during his aria into the sun. The aria is translated into the language of the country in which it is being performed, so you should have heard it in English, and it is the text from Akhnaten's prayer to Aten. I am sure you had a lot more questions that I could answer, but this is getting long.... You actually didn't miss anything except that there wasn't anything to miss! Phelim and the production team did work a lot of symbolism into everything.... for instance the daughters were tied together by the dreadlock wig because the family had become too insular and spent too much time together, but also no one expected the audience to really catch those details. As for other operas, try one with a story next time. Most people say to try Carmen or La Boheme for first operas, but I actually recommend Eugene Onegin. If you want to study and look for symbolism, then Wagner might be your thing, but as amazing as it is when you know what is happening, it is tedious if you go in without studying some first. You might also be interested in Othello, Romeo and Juliet, or another Shakespeare play turned into an opera. I would say try opera again if you are still curious because this is a a VERY atypical opera and not for everyone!

[@juliobetancourt331]

Opera student here. I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything that’s flying over your head that the average opera buff does understand. This production is very cryptic, stylized, an focused on providing striking visuals. Most operas are more focused on story, and the music lends itself to a more traditional production. Since Glass is so different and hypnotic, they sort of tried to reflect that in the production. It honestly feels more like a ballet with singers involved than a traditional opera. Some recommendations to get a better idea as to what the medium feels like are Carmen, Tosca, Pagliacci, and Fedora. I’d recommend trying to watch one of those as your next introduction to opera. It’s also worth noting that pro-shots are standard in the operatic industry, and there’s no shame in watching a recording of a show that’s not in the season for your closest opera house.

[@mortalclown3812]

💯

[@francofx]

Akhnaten is a masterpiece! I love minimalism.

[@conversacionesconmipadre]

You asked: what am I missing? I would say: everything.

[@marypatcooney593]

A visual artist friend used to teach a course in looking at art. He encouraged all attendees to not worry about how much they do or do not know about the art, whether painted, printed, drawn or - whatever. He suggested that to start they look at basic elements and decide if they liked them - shapes, colors, themes, images. All without worry about whether they "get" what the artwork is about. If you like something about it, that is a motivation to learn more. I feel that applies to movement, music, and opera theater, too. Sometimes you just need to let it flow over you and see where it takes you. Sometimes you find yourself riveted. and other experiences... I admire your leap into for your starting point. I hated opera for years, until I was hired to dance in opera. When I was just yards away, and learned what the vocalists were trying to accomplish, I fell in love with it. And I realized that recordings are but a shadow of what one sees/hears/feels when being there in person. Let us all keep digging into new experiences!!!

[@karlmortoniv2951]

Wow, you chose a hell of a first opera! LOL! "Akhnaten" is a lot more abstract than traditional opera, and it definitely polarizes some audiences. First time I saw it I went in knowing Akhnaten's story from other things so I had a bit of a leg up over you. By contrast, several years ago the LA Opera put on Glass' "Satyagraha" and I went in cold apart from knowing that it was about Gandhi. I think most people at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion were in the same boat because I've never seen so many people quickly turn to the program notes during the first interval. I haven't seen "Einstein on the Beach" but I understand that one's even more of a head scratcher, although I'm keen to see it if I ever get the chance. Just this afternoon I saw the Metropolitan's HD encore of a similar production to the one you saw - with the jugglers and Costanzo - and most of the people in the cinema weren't buying it. There were about a dozen old people speaking a foreign language behind me and they were NOT having a good time. I didn't know what they were saying but the whispers of confusion soon became open jeering and laughter. I wish they would have fucking left, ya know? So it's not just you that didn't get it on first viewing. Hopefully you didn't behave like these people did. I hope you give opera another chance. They're not all as impenetrable or even forbidding as Glass' trilogy. I don't know what you have access to but anything by Puccini or Verdi is probably a safe bet.

[@cjbrown3773]

Yes. Glass's Akhnaten is a minimalist opera. Everything that you witnessed was intentional and I'm sorry that this was your first impression of opera. For the inexperienced I would recommend seeing one of Puccini's operas, or an opera by Bizet or Bellini. I highly would recommend Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier parts of it is comical and the trios are amazing.

[@cherbibler3265]

You have described very eloquently a feeling I've had many times! Trying to elevate an appreciation of an art to a next level and feeling like it's a club you're never going to get an invitation to join. Sort of.

[@milo-theatre]

I'm gonna keep trying to get into that club at least a few more times before I give up, though - maybe if we team up we can break the door down together haha!

[@mortalclown3812]

Here's the irony of opera: it's very much working class art that's been appropriated by the rich. Now it's flipped on its back and this video is snobbery in reverse.

[@macro2k7]

I came to this from a different direction - listening to Phillip Glass's music which is how I bought the 4 cd set of Akhenaton before ever seeing any jugglers. How blind one should be to context prior to confronting art is a tough question. Does it help to know that this is the 3rd in his portrait trilogy? Does it help to know that on one hand Akhenaton was a truly vilified pharoah after his time, who was very close to being erased from all history, because he tried to introduce a monotheistic religion (sun worship) in egypt which met a lot of resistance as it made most of the priest class unemployed and without power. Or that his wife Nefertiti was far more famous to the twentieth century because of that one amazing statue representation? or that Tutankhamun was his son? All these strands coming together at one point in time, the attempt of one person to create a 'modern' religion, and his epic failure are an opera in real life. So yes climbing the stair up to the huge red sun is very symbolic, and as operatic imagery a lot more cogent and on point than many operas could claim. The slowness and the juggling, yes they jar but both give absolute primacy of setting the pace to the music. For me the neo steampunk costume design came closest to breaking suspension of disbelief.

[@scorpioninpink]

The thing about Philip Glass' Opera is that sometimes you need to have prior knowledge about the story of the show. Always go with the classic repertoire for your first opera because unlike Musical Theatre or even Operatta, some Opera are just heavy on symbolism and very minimalist when it comes to narrative. And in this particular production they went HEAVY on Symbolism.

[@kittylil_1235]

The initial funeral was his father. The symbolism of Akhenaten coming in naked and being dressed as the pharaoh was him taking on the role of the dead king. At the end, his son takes over. He is a child because history currently believes that his son (if not necessarily his immediate successor) was Tutankhamen. I’m sorry that the juggling distracted you. I confess to being very experienced in both opera and symbolism, which maybe helped me to frame meanings for myself. I’m not sure if I was right or wrong, but it is very much about personal response. I loved it. You did seem to have a sense of something continuing, that I think is because Akhenaten was the first monotheist that we know about and from his Atenism we may derive Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Therefore, he was overthrown but may remain an influence in the world today. You asked for suggestions of operas to see. Try La Boheme, Rigoletto, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro…. Basically any opera written before 1900! Norma has a great storyline. When the Scribe lifted the dead Akhenaten, I sobbed. Both times I saw it live and when I saw it on video. For me, it was the single best theatrical experience I’ve ever had. The occasional dropped ball was immaterial. But I do understand how it might be distracting for some. I wish you well in your future operatic journey. It’s always good to have people who come to it with an open mind. Maybe one day you will find the opera that you would pay hundreds of pounds to see.

[@margaretbailey8463]

The symbolism is explained online. The jugglers, for instance, are actually shown in ancient illustrations (and seemingly used here by Glass as an artistic element), as are the arms coming down from the sun - specifically in art showing Akhnaton. The staircase is his approach to his god (the Aten). The body shown in the beginning is his father. Akhnaton is shown being prepared for burial at the end, after he's murdered (historians surmise) for attempting to replace the traditional Egyptian pantheon with one main god (200 years before monotheism and Moses). Thus his prayer to Aten segues into a Hebrew prayer to Yahweh. The sense of being transported into a totally alien reality was mesmerizing, but I do think it helped to have read up on it.

[@brandonlabbe3577]

I don't know where I heard or read this but I think it's expected that you know an opera's story before you watch. If I'm not mistaken, this is why playbills give the full synopsis. Also as for the speed, this opera might be relatively new but all of the famous operas were written for a time when people had little else to do. 300 years ago, they probably enjoyed every minute of that 3-4 hour runtime because it was much better than reading a book or walking around or whatever tf people did for fun 300 years ago. I felt the same about Oedipus Rex. It's amazing that a 2500 year old play was preserved but at the same time it was such a slog to get through. I'm pretty sure a modern writer could've told the exact same story in half the time. We're just used to a faster pace today because there's so many things vying for our attention so it's hard to appreciate entertainment that comes from a time when that was not the case. I could be wrong but I think Opera's gonna have a huge reckoning after the pre-internet generations die off. It won't go away completely but will probably be much more limited.

[@mortalclown3812]

I understand the allure of tabula rasa, but think his experience - and this video - could have been improved immensely with any 'advance press' - insight. Please pardon the hyperbole, but Glass deserves it.

[@kathleenhensley5951]

Wrong first opera. Mozart is always first. Something fun, beautiful (Magic Flute?) (Marriage of Figaro) . Carmen would be a great first opera for someone as young as you. Very sexy and downright naughty in places. My favorite Opera is Aida, though. I've been watching snippets of Akhnaten on you tube because I've read so much about the actual Pharaoh. Akhnaten was the first monotheist. He believed the solar globe, The Aten, was the only true God. He believed he was the son of the Aten. He disposed the old gods and created a new city. Akhetaton, the Horizon of the Aten. This of course, upset the priesthood of Amon Ra, and there is a hint that they may have assassinated him. Nefertiti, his wife (the beautiful one has come) is famous because they found an unfinished bust of the great lady in a workshop when they excavated Akhetaton (now called Amara) . Oh, and they had 6 daughters, one of them Ankhesenamun, was the wife of Tutankhamen. AS far as I know, we still don't have Akhnaten's mummy. I don't quite grasp why they would have so much juggling. Modern artists/musicians seem to do strange things just for shock value. It doesn't have to mean anything. Like the statues that are just lumps of clay, Juggling the balls could mean nothing - or it could have a very deep meaning. It might be reference to the worship of the solar globe? Maybe a reference to the old religion vs the new? Maybe the idea of sun traveling across the sky in its boat? I don't know why I love opera... it just sort of happened. By 35 I fell in love with Mozarts' operas. So did my husband. We never got to a theater because we never had the money, but I have plenty of DVDs. I was exposed to it very young, my mother was Italian and she would listen to opera on the radio on Saturdays, so I was always curious about it. I found I needed the patience of old age to really fall in love, though. One reason I would never go to a theater is I'm not rich. I don't have fancy clothes. I'd have to wear simple clothes. I'm just not rich enough. Hope this helps.

[@pixxelwizzard]

Thanks for this. I was considering watching this at my local theater tonight and was trying to find it was worth spending nearly 5 hours on. Your discussion here was exactly what I was looking for. People keep talking about the spectacular visuals, but visuals alone don't do anything for me. Unlike yourself, I don't care much about symbolism, either. I need a good, strong story with some interesting characters and character interactions to enjoy a play or musical. Sounds like this wouldn't appeal to me at all.

[@karlmortoniv2951]

Five hours?? It was nearer two and a half for me! Or is there a commute built into that?

[@pixxelwizzard]

@@karlmortoniv2951 I dunno, the listing on the AMC page says its 4.5 hours?

[@jeffwatkins352]

BTW, if you want to know what opera usually is like, see Tosca. Heavily plot driven, fairly fast moving, and almost never performed "symbolically." Also true of Carmen, and you'll recognize a bunch of its tunes. Plus you'll have a much better chance of catching either show, since both are frequently performed.

[@marshalleubanks2454]

In Opera, I'd start with Mozart, specifically Don Giovanni and the Marriage of Figaro, which you might want to supplement with Rossini's The Barber of Seville (the prequel to the Marriage of Figaro). Phillip Glass is much harder to take (my wife, for example, cannot stand his operas) and much given to repetition and abstraction and, yes, a very slow pace (which is what my wife cannot stand). I would simply not expect a clear answer or a clear understanding from watching any Phillip Glass opera.

[@JulesCreativityPersonified]

Spot on. That is exactly the route I took Ha Ha

[@jeffwatkins352]

I can't speak to the production you saw, since I've only seen the KZbin video of the Nice mounting, along with clips from the MET's version and a college production. Sounds like yours went hardcore symbolic, and you can be sure few other operas take this approach. Most are narratively driven. Your reaction reminds me of mine to the Akim Freyer mounting of Glass's Satyagraha. Happily, it's on video and, while I found it highly annoying on first watch, after repeated viewings I rather like it. Does take more than one watch to dig through, grasp, and appreciate its symbolism.

[@johnmcglinchey]

the juggling emphasized the rythym of the music

[@dansidi1]

I went last night - my first ever opera. I was mesmerised! I loved the production and the visuals. I didn't take too much notice of the story, to be honest. Just the music and the visual spectacle was quite enough for me. I don't think you're missing anything at all. I hadn't thought of the juggling balls as reference to any sociological phenomenon, but your analysis stands up, I think. I just have this awful image in my head... is that how Prince Charles gets dressed in the morning...?

[@mortalclown3812]

😂

[@MrSluggo47]

Sorry, I started watching your video to see what you thought of Akhnaten, but at about the 3 minute mark I realized that I don't care what you think.

[@nealeTH]

I’m an idiot and know nothing. My Opera toe dipping was Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Obvious? Maybe. But it is deliciously sublime. Soaring music to the depths of hell. Literally. Seduction. Layers. Symbolism. Glorious moments for each character to shine. And a sweeping score that can’t fail to emote. But then I know nothing. Perhaps one for you to try out.

[@milo-theatre]

I will keep an eye out for sure - sounds wonderful!!

[@robinblankenship9234]

The music is minimalistic. Obviously, nothing else in this production is. It will be interesting to see a performance, say a hundred years from now in whatever new and improved version of sets, costumes, etc that now happening to tradition operas.

[@danjon8799]

A very well reasoned argument. I think the problem is it's a bit like Shakespeare. A lot of Opera has been done so much that they are trying to do whatever they can to stand out from the crowd. In my opinion the worst shows are those where you really have to end up thinking so deeply it distracts you from the performance because evidently its so hard that you have to think. Of course there's been moments where I've seen shows a bit like that and in the end they have really pulled it off and I thought "That was so worth the time and effort for thinking" but the problem is for some opera it is really tricky and actually a bit too tricky. That being said though, some directors need to think outside of the box because of how tricky some operas are (any of the Wagners are a challenge and actually really need loads of time and effort for thinking because they are epics). In terms of good shows, one I would high recommend is Tosca by Puccini - I saw it by Opera North and I was just blown away. It's also really story based so you can really get your teeth stuck in to the story as well as the music which is dramatic but just amazing.

[@kidmarine7329]

Have not seen this opera live but I find the music amazing.

[@zdenekpazourek1086]

The juggling balls represent the sun disk of the egyptian god Aten after whom AkhenATEN named himself

[@filipv.5019]

Why didn’t you just read the synopsis of the opera, or even a just a google search into Faraoh Akhnaten. It’s like a ballet: if you don’t know the story, you will not get what’s going on. The opera presents the life of Aknathen in scenes of his live. The first scene is the funeral of his father king Amenothep III. Second scene is the coronation of Aknathen ad the new pharaoh. The main thing of his reign is that he rejects all Egyptian Gods and worships the Sun. The red cirkle is the sun and he sings a hymn to the sun. But after a while the people riot against him, because he is not taking care of the country, there is shortage of food, and they do not accept the new religion. The spoken English texts are translation of original texts and even a poem written by Akhnaten. The juggling of the balls is depicted in a lot of Egyptian temples.

[@egapnala65]

If you want to be even more dumbfounded I suggest you check out Glass' "Einstein On The Beach". Its a form of musical theatre music that relies on extended repitition of simple melodic phrases and over this projects a stylised form of gesture acting. Glass is a film composer and you should probably take a look at "Grid" from the film "Koyanisquatsi" as well as that will clarify it all a bit further.

[@JulesCreativityPersonified]

I love that. When I taught dance in schools I used that a lot.

[@AbdelOveAllhan]

Probably not the best choice for a first opera. If you want to get a more rounded meaningful appreciation for 'Opera' you can take a college course that might start from the beginning, say Monteverdi's 'l'incoronazione di poppea' and then move on to some of history's more relevant repertoire like the Met's production of Handel's Agrippina which some consider a jolting production but the musicianship is phenomenal. Or one of several productions of his Julius Caesar.From there I would say Mozart is a reliable and remarkably fresh source for relevant and dramatic/comic opera. The thing about Glass's Ahknaten is that unlike every opera before it there is very little 'story'. Character development is also skeletal to non existent. We're tasked with enduring glacial dramatic and musical movement for nearly 3 hours. The story of Ahknaten is one of enormous upheaval in the annals of Egyptian history yet all we get is a perfunctory narration in spoken intervals. The only thing I can say for this production is that it is visually stunning...but I go to the opera to hear profound drama, comedy and some sort of engaging or at least cogent story. Glass fails the basics in my estimation.

[@yolandacroes5491]

I don’t know anything about opera except Glass’ Akhnatan. By pure coincidence I discovered this one on youtube and just loved the music. I regularly watched a version in which the singers/actors are dressed in more ancient Egyptian garb. So I very excited when the local cinema was showing the Met version. The music was still sublime but oh the staging. I hated the freaking jugglers and didn’t see the point. The bizarre clothing of the high priest, the councillor and the rest of the choir was so distracting I was barely able to enjoy one of my favorite pieces, the funeral of Amenhotep III. They looked ridculous and made the whole scene a silly clown show. The weird costume of Akhanatan with all the doll faces? No idea. I honestly did not enjoy it as much as I hoped. I am an opera ignoramus and the symbolic sophistication of the Met version flew over my head. I’ll keep watching the independent youtube version posted by one Patrick Joiner. The music is still glorious and the staging much more immersive than the weird freak show.

[@olev01]

Um yeah... So internet... "I don't know anything about this, but..." See, when I was a kid/young adult, that is when you stop talking. God, you're saying "i know nothing" for how many minutes? FFS "the sun or the moon..." Jeebus! Really? You say you are familiar with Glass? Yet you haven't got that Glassis on another time scale? YES THAT'S HIS THING! THAT'S HIS POINT! Just stop! Stop talking! Stop!

[@martinfreeman6491]

STUNNING. I hate opera. It was AMAZING

[@toddlevin]

Before you apply (what you call) "a critical analysis" you require a modicum of expertise. All you're currently offering in this video is a personal opinion - but it's an uniformed opinion. So that's not terribly helpful. In order to gain an informed opinion, you require both education and experience. Both take the application of personal time and effort. Eventually, that gradually accrued education and experience over time will provide you with the requisite expertise to offer a cogent "critical analysis." You may admire (or not!) what you're experiencing - but at least at that point your opinion is one informed by expertise and experience. Glass compares Akhnaten, who instituted perhaps the world's first monotheistic religion, as a revolutionary thinker on par with Einstein and Gandhi, subjects of two previous Glass operas. Perhaps it would have helped to be aware of that simple fact, and understand this opera completes a cycle much like Wagner's Ring, and to have familiarized yourself with those operas first to grasp how this opera interacts and relates to those in broad general terms...

[@conversacionesconmipadre]

I couldn't possibly agree more...

[@Tygerhart]

You kinda jumped into the deep end. You probably should've started with something more accessible.

[@mortalclown3812]

PS For God's sake. ...😂 Go see Rigoletto.

[@mortalclown3812]

Legit question: Have you never been to a museum? Have you never been led to the trough of art and to figure out what the artist meant on your own? I'm an autodidact, too, but blaming those who have taken the time to know about 'the classics' is...a drag. Yes, the rich are idiots, but this isn't about that and you've conflated the two. (Damn. I can't believe I'm taking up for effing jugglers.)

[@michaelgarcia2973]

Travinsky's Rite of Spring was more enjouable than Akenathen by Phillip Glass .

[@lloydramsey6725]

Mr.RoflWaffles??? Legend

[@galadriel481]

All you need to do is research Akhenaten (the heretic pharaoh) for the production to become completely clear.

[@raymondmartin318]

You appear to want a narrative but are failing to appreciate music just for it's own sake. Glass opera is part of a trilogy and Akhenaten focuses on Religion. To offer a critique on the grounds it was unlike Puccini or Wagner is woeful in its appreciation of the idea behind Glass here exposed. Appears you would agree with the critique of Beethoven because Mozart had always shown how music must be portrayed. Akhenaten is Glass at his best.

[@aaguero]

What a rambling impression. I hardly think Philip Glass is a good choice for someone's first opera experience. Try starting with Mozart and go from there. You'll be ready for Akhenaten in several years - maybe.

[@michaelgarcia2973]

Travinsky's Rite of Spring was more enjouable than Akenathen by Phillip Glass